Ship With Nuclear Waste Sails Through Canal Ok

Other news to note - Caribbean & Latin America

January 18, 2000

PANAMA CITY - A ship carrying a cargo of nuclear waste dodged environmental protesters and passed through the Panama Canal early Monday amid the tightest security operation since Panama took over the waterway in December. The Panama Canal Authority, which assumed control of the canal from the United States on Dec. 31, stepped up security for the 340-foot British-flagged Pacific Swan's transit after environmental and anti-nuclear campaigners said a terrorist attack could cause a marine disaster. The environmental group Greenpeace dubbed the Pacific Swan a ``floating Chernobyl'' because of its cargo of nuclear waste, en route from France to a waste site in Japan.